Measure to enact a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing trailing by 13 votes in Broomfield

Aversion to the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing was confirmed this afternoon as final election results showed voters in three cities along the Front Range -- including Boulder and Lafayette -- approving a halt to the energy extraction method within their borders.

In Broomfield, the only other city to have a fracking ban on the ballot, the issue was failing by a mere 13 votes out of more than 20,000 cast, according to unofficial final results released this morning by the Broomfield elections division. It is not yet clear whether a recount will be conducted there.

Lafayette's measure -- an all-out ban on new oil and gas drilling in the city -- prevailed 60 percent to 40 percent, while Boulder voters overwhelmingly said "no" to fracking within city limits. The margin in Boulder was 78 percent in favor of a five-year extension of the city's fracking moratorium versus 22 percent against.

Boulder County's results are unofficial but final, as of 12:18 p.m.

A five-year fracking moratorium also won in Fort Collins, 56 percent to 44 percent, according to Larimer County's 3:12 a.m. final vote count.

Cliff Willmeng, who led the fight against fracking in Lafayette as part of the group East Boulder County United, said Tuesday the message is clear that his city "is not a community that welcomes the idea that the oil and gas industry has the final word on how they live."

Advertisement

"The voters are saying that they don't buy the idea that corporate interests are superior to public health, property values, quality of life and democratic self-determination," he said.

But former State House Rep. B.J. Nikkel, who is serving as an adviser to the anti-moratorium campaigns along the Front Range, said the results in Boulder County, especially, are not representative of how the rest of the state feels about energy extraction.

"As the debate moves from places like Boulder and Lafayette -- which come with highly Democratic constituencies -- to purple Colorado, you're going to see a different outcome," Nikkel said. "This is round one in a much longer match."

The results in Broomfield are more reflective of how much of the rest of the state views the fracking issue, she said.

Nikkel said she doesn't know if the oil and gas industry will sue the cities that passed anti-fracking measures Tuesday, as happened in Longmont after voters there passed a similar ban a year ago.

Bans on hydraulic fracturing, a controversial practice used to coax out deposits of oil and gas through the injection of a high-pressure mix of water, sand and chemicals deep underground, proliferated this year as drilling activity continued to creep closer to residential areas throughout the state.

There were nearly 51,400 active wells in Colorado as of last month, according to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. More than 20,000 of them are in Weld County, which sits in the middle of the gas-rich Wattenberg Basin.

Drilling opponents cite potential negative effects on human health and the environment -- especially air and water quality -- from fracking as a reason to ban it. The industry counters that fracking has been around for more than 60 years and has never been proven to be harmful.

Over a month's time in September and October, the Colorado Oil and Gas Association poured more than $600,000 into efforts to fight Issue 2H in Boulder, Issue 2A in Fort Collins and Ballot Question 300 in both Broomfield and Lafayette.

After the Lafayette City Council balked at placing a moratorium on fracking early this summer, East Boulder County United went out and collected more than 2,000 signatures to get its measure, dubbed the Lafayette Community Rights Act, on the ballot. The group had to fend off a challenge to its ballot question in August, when a Lafayette resident -- with financial help from the Colorado Oil and Gas Association -- filed a complaint alleging that the language in the petition to collect signatures was improperly worded.

The city clerk ruled in favor of the fracking opponents, and the measure remained on the ballot.

Fracking opponents have been heavily outspent in the Lafayette campaign. Pro-fracking group Lafayette Campaign for Energy Choice formed in response to the ballot measure and collected $67,074 last month from the Colorado Oil and Gas Association to fight the issue. By contrast, East Boulder County United took in $1,762 during the same period.

Broomfield's anti-fracking advocates were also badly outspent. The Colorado Oil and Gas Association contributed more than $171,000 to two pro-fracking groups in Broomfield last month, while the group backing the measure -- Our Broomfield -- accumulated $4,952 in contributions from May to Oct. 10.

Russell Mendell, director of Frack Free Colorado, released a statement Tuesday evening saying the election results "show us that Coloradans can see beyond the lies and misinformation of the oil and gas industry."

"Today Colorado residents have shown that they can decide for themselves whether or not they want fracking in their communities," he said. "(The industry's) millions will not change that."

Lightning has 5A state title aspirations once againIt was the only home plate the Legacy varsity softball field had ever known, and there it was last Saturday, in its tattered state, dug out of the playing surface and relegated to a lonely, unused existence. Full Story

The Boulder alt-country band gives its EPs names such as Death and Resurrection, and its songs bear the mark of hard truths and sin. But the punk energy behind the playing, and the sense that it's all in good fun, make it OK to dance to a song like "Death." Full Story